This is all mid-90s college for me. Remember blasting Shake your Rump in the dorms??? That bass was the ultimate speaker test. Also -- discovering samples from this record in my digging infancy was so bad ass. Ronnie Laws and the Eagles never sounded so good.

the 33 1/3 book on this album is pretty good. Well worth reading. I used to play this really loud in my room at home. Now, as a parent, I wonder what my parents were thinking. That must have been really annoying. Not necessarily the music, but just the volume.

Amazing collage of samples. Even more amazing the way they had to piece things together all rinky dink. The book mentions something about two mono samples being run simultaneously with smpte or something to make stereo samples.

Also funny to think that some of these could have been Tone Loc songs.

Also -- discovering samples from this record in my digging infancy was so bad ass.

Truth! And of course, the first time listening to the entire Car Wash soundtrack was a sample-spotting smorgasbord.

But yeah, this one, 3 Feet High and Rising, and Nation of Millions are the holy trinity when it comes to the densely-layered-samples sound.

Also, I feel like this was the Beasties' best vocal outing. Not that they're lyrical lyricists with mad complex 'phors and whatnot, but the tag-team style worked really well here, and they did a good job of establishing a particular vibe with their rhymes. This is one album I really don't get tired of.

Yeah, I'd agree with that - wasn't checking for the Beasties when this dropped, only came back to it after the fact. Great lp, and over the years I've shifted my allegiance from 'Shake Your Rump' to 'Hey Ladies' as being my standout track. Video is great *cracks whip*.

YES. This record has aged like a fine wine. TIMELESS. I remember reading an interview with either Mike D or MCA regarding the decision to construct "The Sounds of Science" entirely out of Beatles samples, and he said something to the effect of "Fuck it; how cool would it be to get sued by The Beatles!" That attitude permeates throughout the record and the Dust Bros. completely killed it on the beats.

I'm eternally grateful they didn't continue the 'License to Ill' vibe, and really love the next step they would take on 'Check Your Head' (still my personal favorite from start to finish, but 'Paul's' is close...)

Paul's Boutique is in the top 10 of all time for any genre IMO. I remember my aunt gave me the tape for Christmas and I played that shit non stop. After MCA passed away I went back and really dove into it again. Still blows my mind how far ahead of it's time it was and that it still holds up today. The Dust Bros. were on some serious shit for 1989. I don't throw the word "masterpiece" around much, but when it comes to sampling, this is definitely one.

I graduated high school in '89 and that summer I was able to go to Cali for a couple of weeks to visit old friends. I remember one day out their driving from Huntington Beach to Downy to meet a friend in another friend of ours' tank of a borrowed Volvo wagon. I was alone and very teenaged stoned and stuck in gridlocked traffic on the 605...and that's when Hey Ladies came on the radio and my shit instantly turned into a spaceship right there...a jalopy of a spaceship that putters along like the Soul Train in a quest to eventually get you somewhere, anywhere twice as groovy as last second, but a spaceship nonetheless. I was transfixed to say the least. But then Fine Young Cannibals or something came on after it and shit went right back to being a busted wagon stuck in traffic.

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